SMCC Commencement 2026
SMCC’s Commencement Ceremony for 2026 will be held on Sunday, May 17 at the Cross Insurance Arena at 45 Spring Street in Portland, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Our distinguished commencement speaker will be Monica Wood, award-winning author and playwright.
Admission is free and tickets are not required. There is no limit to the number of guests who may attend. Doors open at 12:00 p.m. Please arrive between 12:00 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. As a security measure, the Cross Insurance Arena staff will search all people and bags entering the Arena. Please allow extra time and minimize personal belongings to reduce potential delays.
There will be interpreters for the deaf and hearing impaired at the ceremony. If a graduate requires other accommodations for themselves during the ceremony, please contact the Office of Student Life at 207-741-5967 or email smccdeanofstudents@mainecc.edu.
Cross Insurance Arena has clearly marked seating available to accommodate graduates’ guests with disabilities. Should one of your guests require ADA seating, we recommend that you arrive by 12:00 p.m. as guest seating cannot be reserved.
About the Commencement Speaker:
Monica Wood is an award-winning novelist, memoirist and playwright whose work has received numerous literary honors. Her bestselling novel How to Read a Book was named to the Texas Library Association’s “Lariat List” of the 25 best books of 2025 and received the New England Society in the City of New York Book Award for fiction. She is also the author of the internationally acclaimed novel The One-in-a-Million Boy and the memoir When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award.
Her writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Oprah, Literary Hub and Down East. In addition to her books, Wood is an accomplished playwright whose works Papermaker, The Half-Light and Saint Dad debuted at Portland Stage before being produced elsewhere in the country. A native of Mexico, Maine, she lives in Portland with her husband, Dan Abbott, a longtime SMCC professor and program chair.